BY ROYAL DECREE

This is the 15th album from veteran Progressive rock band The Flower Kings, and 3rd since their 2019 reformation with this current lineup. This is a double album, as each of their previous few have been as well, so it is quite expansive and contains a lot of music, 18 tracks of mostly shorter songs (thus, no long epics that they are somewhat known for) coming in at ~96 minutes of music. First, the album sounds great, and the musicianship and lush arrangements are superb throughout. The instrumental passages and sections within songs are the real highlight here, as they generally raise the level of the songs. Unfortunately, I have a bit of an issue with many of the songs themselves, particularly many of the verse and chorus sections, as they tend to be somewhat lackluster and just not very memorable. Overall, it's quite pleasant and enjoyable, but not much more than that. For me, most of the songs pass by without generating much enthusiasm, doesn't grab my attention, and just kind of fade into progressive background music. The album doesn't really take off until near the end of the first disc, with a great sequence of songs: 'We Can Make it Work' is a bright little pop ditty that is elevated by the unique instrumentation and wonderful arrangement (use of xylophone, various guitar fills, and vocals), followed by 'Peace on Parade', a great instrumental that shows what this band is capable of, too bad there are not more like this here, and then the disc closer 'Revolution', another album highlight. Disc 2 continues with hit and miss tracks, but includes several more highlights. So yes, overall, the album is quite good, and contains many great moments, but it is just not great overall. I do not think it measures up to their best work. There are several fine songs here, but also many just OK ones. Best tracks: 'Peacock on Parade', 'Revolution', 'Evolution', 'We Can Make It Work', 'The Big Funk', 'Funeral Pyre', 'A Million Stars'.